EBAY

[Vacumatic]

I read that if you hit a certain limit in sales in a year, they report you to HMRC.

But then also read, if you are a private seller selling your own used stuff then there is no limit to what you can sell.

Anyone know for sure?

I think the rules have changed or are about to change.

The high level intention is that if you are a private seller selling your own stuff then you will be fine, and I don't think that there has been a fundamental change.

My experience is that HMRC are quick to take the view that you are assumed to be trading, impose tax and advance tax and wait for you to object.

I was selling some things that I had owned for many years, this was around 2016, I sold on ebay took payments by Paypal which transferred money to my current account. I reached about £8000 in sales before ebay, paypal fees and postage costs.

I had a letter from HMRC saying that I was clearly a business and that I should have registered this selling activity with them, there was a suggestion that a fine may be due in addition to a £5000 tax charge for the current year and another £5000 in advance tax for the year to come.

To be clear, I was not buying to sell, these were items that I had owned such as pens, drawings, artworks etc.

There was no email address to contact them, I wrote to them and found out from others that they had over 12 months backlog in unanswered letters. I phoned them, waited an hour for them on hold. A person picked up and she was in a furious mood, I guess that she had just had a bad call. Things calmed down, I explained that I was just someone who was selling things that I had owned for years. She explained that their algorithm had suggested that I was trading, they don't pick up that I wasn't buying just selling. She reluctantly agreed to remove the £10,000 tax charges but gave me the dark warning 'we will be watching your account'.

It was borderline worthwhile on whether the sales were worthwhile anyway with all the fees and costs in addition to some buyers who were little more than fraudsters and supported in that fraud by Ebay, I haven't sold anything since that date

My issue is that they have a lot of power, they can make an assumption, impose it on you and it can be very difficult to overturn that assumption.

 

[MrK1]

I think the rules have changed or are about to change.

The high level intention is that if you are a private seller selling your own stuff then you will be fine, and I don't think that there has been a fundamental change.

My experience is that HMRC are quick to take the view that you are assumed to be trading, impose tax and advance tax and wait for you to object.

I was selling some things that I had owned for many years, this was around 2016, I sold on ebay took payments by Paypal which transferred money to my current account. I reached about £8000 in sales before ebay, paypal fees and postage costs.

I had a letter from HMRC saying that I was clearly a business and that I should have registered this selling activity with them, there was a suggestion that a fine may be due in addition to a £5000 tax charge for the current year and another £5000 in advance tax for the year to come.

To be clear, I was not buying to sell, these were items that I had owned such as pens, drawings, artworks etc.

There was no email address to contact them, I wrote to them and found out from others that they had over 12 months backlog in unanswered letters. I phoned them, waited an hour for them on hold. A person picked up and she was in a furious mood, I guess that she had just had a bad call. Things calmed down, I explained that I was just someone who was selling things that I had owned for years. She explained that their algorithm had suggested that I was trading, they don't pick up that I wasn't buying just selling. She reluctantly agreed to remove the £10,000 tax charges but gave me the dark warning 'we will be watching your account'.

It was borderline worthwhile on whether the sales were worthwhile anyway with all the fees and costs in addition to some buyers who were little more than fraudsters and supported in that fraud by Ebay, I haven't sold anything since that date

My issue is that they have a lot of power, they can make an assumption, impose it on you and it can be very difficult to overturn that assumption.

Thank you for the reply.
I'm not a trader, but have already sold a few hundred pounds worth of items already this year. I have a few more items to sell which may take me over the £1k mark. All items are used and some were bought on Ebay.

I can't be arsed with HMRC and would rather not have them on my back.
As you said, they are a PITA to deal with.

 

[Vacumatic]

Thank you for the reply.
I'm not a trader, but have already sold a few hundred pounds worth of items already this year. I have a few more items to sell which may take me over the £1k mark. All items are used and some were bought on Ebay.

I can't be arsed with HMRC and would rather not have them on my back.
As you said, they are a PITA to deal with.

The figure that is quoted is £1000 in any tax year before HMRC become interested.